Thomas was born with a severe to profound hearing loss in his right ear. Thank God for newborn hearing screenings. At 6 months, he was diagnosed with EVA/LVAS and began to lose his hearing in his left ear. The hearing in his left ear has fluctuated since diagnosis, but he has a wonderful team of specialists helping him to listen and speak. This is his story -- as told by his mom, one of his biggest fans.

CI Activation

Thursday, December 29, 2011

We have entered a new era with our little man, Thomas. Today he did booth testing with our awesome audiologist, Dr. Bari, and let her test him for an hour all.by.himself! The little stinker actually let her do an eSRT on his CI. She was able to get 4 pairs of the electrodes done before he totally stopped cooperating.

Here are the results we got:

CI OnlyHe is still testing around the 30dB mark across the frequencies with only his CI. Med-el considers a properly mapped kiddo between 25dB and 35dB. Given the distortion he experienced when we got him between 15dB and 25dB, I consider this to be a good thing. His speech recognition threshold unilaterally was at 30dB. The cool thing is that his speech perception testing, without noise, came in at 92%. Can this sista get a WOO-HOO?

HA OnlyHe has held constant at between 45dB (low frequencies) and 55dB (high frequencies) unaided. He didn't have the patience for aided unilateral testing with his aid. However, Dr. Bari was able to get his speech perception testing done. Again, he scored 92% aided but, this time with an aided speech recognition at 15dB. Again, give me a WOO-HOO!

CI MappingWith the eSRT testing, we found that each of the 4 pairs of electrodes were over-powered by approximately 4 charge units. So, she adjusted these electrodes and interpolated the remaining electrodes. We will see how this new map is and will go back again in another 3 months for more eSRT testing and bilateral testing.

I have to admit that I'm damn proud of how Thomas has matured when it comes to hearing tests. His patience has increased dramatically...although I have to admit...I bribed him with a new toy from Target if he did exactly what Dr. Bari wanted of him today. When we left Cook, we immediately drove to Target and he picked out a new monster truck toy to join his growing collection at home. He is SUCH a boy!

Friday, December 9, 2011

With Thomas' hearing loss issues somewhat under control and his language progressing at a rapid rate now (knock on wood), I've been focusing my time with him on his eating issues. It is primarily soft textures that he struggles with and has a HUGE defense mechanism when it comes to trying new foods. While we spent our 3 weeks with the awesome people of the John Tracy Clinic this past summer, an OT there recommended that we develop a reward system for trying new foods. She told me about a link system that goes from the ceiling to the floor (like retro Christmas tree garland). When the child eats or tries a new food, they get a link in the chain. When the chain hits the floor, they get a reward.

Around the time we were denied coverage for behavioral feeding therapy from our insurance carrier, we started our work on the chain. Thomas was so excited to learn that he would get a new toy when the chain reached the floor. BTW, this was also a great language opportunity to talk about links in a chain, getting longer, taller, closer, counting, etc. Also sequencing about which color goes first, second, third and finally fourth.

We started with simple crunchy textures that were not very offensive. We moved on to other textures like pizza, waffles, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc. Well this morning after eating his waffle, Thomas' chain reached the floor. He was so proud of himself! We brushed his teeth and immediately went to the grocery store so he could find his new toy. After carefully considering all the toys available and talking through all the options, he chose a bulldozer/backhoe combination vehicle...he is SUCH.A.BOY!

Now to start our next chain...what foods to work on next? Mommy may need to give this some thought while enjoying a glass or two of wine this evening.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

So if you're like me, you could go broke buying "therapy toys" for your hearing impaired or deaf kiddos. I'm always looking for ways to stretch my dollar to accomplish our AVT goals. While I always adapt books, games, etc. I was looking for a cheap way to focus on objects by description, using a blind set. I found that using the Christmas toy catalogs that come in the mail was a FREE way to do this.

We play the game by my holding the catalog and giving two clues like, this vehicle has flashing lights. Then Thomas proceeds to guess...police car, police boat, fire truck, ambulance, tow truck, etc. Then I turn it around and have him give me a clue...Thomas playing the teacher.

We have adapted our game to 4 step direction...Thomas first find a firetruck, second a Star Wars toy, third a girl toy and finally/last a computer game.

This fun has also given me a complete list of Christmas gifts that he wants...with a shooter (a.k.a. a nerf gun) at the top of his list.

About Me

I am a stay-at-home mom to two wonderful little kiddos. Sidney is 9, going on 17, and a hearing child. Thomas is a rough and tumble 3-year old that is deaf in one ear and hard of hearing in the other ear. This blog is for my friends and family to keep up on Thomas' progress, but ultimately it is for Thomas. I want to chronicle how hard he works and all the strides that he makes in his battle to listen and speak.